


give me the green light

by thatfangirlingfreak



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, I finally wrote some bughead bless, bunch of Gatsby analysis, bunch of fluff, set in 1x06, sometime after the kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 22:52:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10559044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatfangirlingfreak/pseuds/thatfangirlingfreak
Summary: Jughead fears that he is too much like Gatsby, with the exception of being 'great.' Betty fears that he hates her for an incident featuring a sudden kiss and a car.or,Betty and Jughead try to talk about the kiss and their relationship through literary analysis.





	

**Author's Note:**

> okay this might be really bad as it is 1 am and I'm being dumb and not sleeping
> 
> hopefully it turns out okay and my obsession of analyzing Gatsby isn't too overbearing for you

Betty anxiously tapped her pen against her leg, making little pitter patter noises like that of falling rain.

Every so often, she would stop tapping and glance at the cause of her nervous behavior: Jughead Jones.

They definitely had a moment earlier, and she definitely ruined it. She kept replaying it over and over, and wondered what he thought of her. _Did he hate her now? What did this kiss make them? How long has he liked her? Does he know how much she likes him back? Does he know how much she regrets interrupting that kiss? Wha-_

"What is your opinion of Jay Gatsby?" Jughead asked suddenly, looking up from his laptop. He'd been typing on it this whole time, unaware of the avalanche of thoughts tumbling through Betty's mind.

"What?" She completely missed what he said, startled that he even said something at all.

"Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's–supposedly great–Gatsby. What do you, the undoubtedly great Betty Cooper, think of Jay Gatsby?"

"Um," She tried to think of something brilliant to say while wishing her blush away. Curse Jughead for always being so good with words. Well, almost always. He was definitely at a loss for words before kissing her, a thought that does not help her blush die. "Gatsby was good."

"Good...but not great?" He quirked an eyebrow.

"No, the 'great' title is a diversion. He was good. Innocent, almost like a child. He lived in the past and never left it because that's where he was happiest. He was just a man with a dream, who wanted love and happiness. He was too good for such a twisted setting, and died for it."

Jughead was silent, but his face revealed that he was thinking deeply over her words. Sometimes Betty wondered what he thought about, and wished that she could crawl inside his mind and read the endless pages of thoughts the boy must have.

"You don't think Gatsby was naive? Idiotically optimistic and hopeful? Obsessive freak? Too idealistic or dramatic?"

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Maybe so, but those aren't necessarily bad things. I mean, those attributes made him have higher expectations of Daisy than she could meet, but we're all like Gatsby when it comes to our true dream. You want it, you obsess over it, you hope that dream comes true every day, and if it falls short...everything falls apart."

"You're brilliant, Betty Cooper," Jughead shakes his head fondly, smile stretched across his face. Thankfully, she barely has time to blush before another question flies from his lips. "Do you think it's...weird that he stayed in love with Daisy for so long?"

"Some people may say yes, but I think it's...sweet. They had an undeniably true love, I think. He ended up thinking she was greater than she actually was, but we all expect so much out of others. It's natural; we want our parents to be great, our lovers to be great, our friends to be great, and we don't realize that not everything can be perfect, y'know?"

"Very true," He said, but he sounded as if he was far away. Somewhere else in his head.

Suddenly, Jughead was looking deeply into her eyes. He saw every fleck of green swirling between hues of blue; he saw flickers of hope hiding between the darkest doubts she tries to hide away.

"Jughead-" She started, but was cut off by his soft voice.

"I'm Gatsby, and you're Daisy. I don't know if you understood that, but um...yeah. It was the perfect literary reference. I could have done a Heathcliff and Catherine, or maybe even go mythological and do Persephone and Hades. This was the most fitting, I think."

Betty couldn't help but smile. This was the first time she'd ever heard the eloquent Jughead Jones ramble. And it was about her.

He noticed that she wasn't responding, and began getting flustered. "It's weird, right? I'm sorry. I didn't know how else to properly put into words that...well, I've liked you for a long time, Betty. I had this naive little dream when we were kids that you would wake up one day and realize Archie wasn't the one. So, when you didn't really...react the way I hoped when I kissed you it made me falter a little. I guess I did expect more out of you, to a certain extent. But it's fine if you don't like me back. I'm Gatsby, you're Daisy, and there'll always be a Tom, right?"

Betty Cooper kissed him immediately after he stopped speaking. ( _She would have cut him off in the middle of his ramble, but he was just so cute when he was nervous._ )

When they broke away, Betty smiled at him and Jughead felt like light was washing over him.

"There is no Tom, no Archie, no one. We aren't Gatsby and Daisy, Jughead. Our story is different and it is our own. _Ours_."

"Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper, a most unlikely duo," He joked.

She laughed. "I don't think it's so unlikely. Anyways, you have to realize that I am not a green light in the distance, Jug. I am real and I am here and I am yours, if you're willing. I'm not going anywhere. I know I ruined our first kiss and it wasn't perfect, but I'm not perfect. I don't want to be perfect."

"I know. You don't need to be perfect, Betty, that's not what I-"

"I know, Jughead. I just don't want you to be like Archie and think that I'm 'too good' or something."

"I'm not Archie, Betts. I mean, you are too good for me, but that doesn't mean I won't spend all my time trying to prove to you that I am good enough for you."

"You've always been good enough, Juggie."

They kiss again, his hand cupping her face and her hands coming up to touch the soft sweater covering his chest. She feels his beating heart through the fabric. He feels the soft hitches of her breath as he kisses her again and again.

When they finally break away, Jughead looks into her bright eyes and smiles.

"What?" She asks, smiling back.

"You give me so much hope, Betty Cooper. I know you said you're not, but you are my green light in this dark town."

"You're a cheesier boyfriend than I expected you'd be," Betty says, smirking.

"Boyfriend?" Jughead nearly stutters, face reddening.

"All it takes is one word for you to go from pretentious poet to flustered fool? How sad."

He tries to hold back his shining grin, but it ends up revealing itself from the shadows regardless. "You know what, Cooper?"

"Hm?" She hums, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"God, you're so fucking pretty, that's what."

Jughead attacks her with kisses and she giggles. It's the happiest she's been since the horrors of Riverdale unleashed like Pandora's box.

Although darkness bloomed in tiny corners of the town, Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper found light tucked away within each other, a brilliant green that formed from his blue and her gold.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!!
> 
> other places you can find me if you wish to scream abt bughead at any time of the day:  
> twitter-@celesticalum  
> tumblr-thatfangirlingfreak


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